CWA 4.1 Origins of the Vietnam War (Page 4 of 6) Ho Chi Minh, 1946. Cropped version Source: Wikipedia Commons, Vietnamese Public Domain, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:ho_chi _Minh_1946_and_signature.jpg The Cold War Unlike WWII, which was fought between the Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) and the Allies (U.S., Soviet Union, Britain), the Cold War saw the United States and Soviet Union on opposite sides. Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union viewed Vietnam as strategically important. Ho Chi Minh made several requests for U.S. support for Vietnamese independence in the 1940s. He even modeled the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence (September 2, 1945) after America s. However, Ho Chi Minh was a communist and the U.S. and France were long-time allies. France had lent its support of America s Marshall Plan in 1947 to rebuild Europe economically. The United States was committed to this containment policy. France sought and received funds from the U.S. in its campaign to retake Vietnam. In 1950, the U.S. established the U.S. Military Advisory Group-Indochina. In the same year, the Soviet Union and the People s Republic of China officially recognized the DRV and sent aid to Ho Chi Minh. From 1950-52, the U.S. spent $50 million in military and economic aid to support nation-building and fight the communists in South Vietnam. Elsewhere in Asia, the Korean War was fought from 1950-1953. The U.S. sent troops to fight on behalf of South Korea against communist-led forces in North Korea, which was supported by China. The Korean peace treaty made permanent the division of Korea along the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Time Marker 1940s What happened? Why is this important? Sept. 2, 1945 1947 1950 1950 1950-52 1950-53 Why did the U.S. refuse to help Ho Chi Minh? Page 12
CWA 4.1 Origins of the Vietnam War (Page 5 of 6) First Indochina War From 1946-1954, Southeast Asians fought the First Indochina War in a war of independence from French reoccupation. On May 7, 1954, Ho Chi Minh s forces finally defeated the French in the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The Geneva Accords, the peace treaty, called for the French to withdraw and give independence to Cambodia and Laos. Vietnam was more complicated. The country was divided between North and South at the 17 th parallel, known as the demilitarized zone (DMZ), until 1956 when reunification would be decided by a presidential election. North Vietnam would be communist, governed by Ho Chi Minh. South Vietnam would be anti-communist. To give South Vietnam international recognition as a new country, the United States, along with France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan formed the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, or SEATO, in September 1954; South Vietnam was signed on as a formal member. SEATO existed to prevent the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. The U.S. installed a pro-western leader, Ngo Dinh Diem as the president of the Republic of Vietnam in the South in 1955. The same year, with U.S. assistance, South Vietnam forms the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (from left) greet South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem, Washington National Airport, May 8, 1957. Dept. of Defense, Dept. of the Air Force. Source: National Archives, ARC Identifier: 542189. Time Marker 1946-54 What happened? Why is this important? May 7, 1954 1954 1955 1955 What did the Geneva Accords mean for Vietnam? What was the purpose of SEAT0? Page 13
CWA 4.1 Origins of the Vietnam War (Page 6 of 6) The Vietnam War An election never took place in Vietnam because the two opposing sides South Vietnam supported by the U.S., and North Vietnam supported by China and Russia could not agree on the terms of the presidential election. The U.S. believed that Ho Chi Minh would win the election, because of his popularity. North and South Vietnam were positioned to fight a civil war to determine which government would rule post-colonial Vietnam. Both sides built up their armed forces and engaged in battles. Thus began the Second Indochina War, known to Americans as the Vietnam War. It is called the Second Indochina War by historians because fighting also took place in Cambodia and Laos. Vietnam. Vietnamese army personnel training in the jungle, May, 1962. U.S. Dept. of Defense, Department of the Army. Source: National Archives, ARC Identifier: 530607. Why did the Second Indochina War start in 1956? Why did the U.S. get involved in this conflict? Why do historians call it the Second Indochina War? Page 14
CWA 4.3.1 - Why fight the Vietnam War? (Vietnamese Dec. of Independence) Editor s Note: On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh delivered the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam in Hanoi. An excerpt follows: All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice. Ho Chi Minh, 1946. Cropped version Source: Wikipedia Commons, Vietnamese Public Domain, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Ho_Chi_Minh_1946_and_signatur e.jpg In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty. They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct political regimes in the North, the Center, and the South of Vietnam in order to wreck our national unity and prevent our people from being united. They have built more prisons than schools. They have mercilessly slain our patriots; they have drowned our uprisings in rivers of blood. In the field of economics, they have fleeced us to the backbone, impoverished our people, and devastated our land. They have robbed us of our rice fields, our mines, our forests, and our raw materials. They have monopolized the issuing of banknotes and the export trade. They have invented numerous unjustifiable taxes and reduced our people, especially our peasantry, to a state of extreme poverty. They have hampered the prospering of our national bourgeoisie; they have mercilessly exploited our workers Source: Ho Chi Minh, "Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam," Selected Writings (Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1977), pp. 5356. Page 17
CWA 4.3.2 - Why fight the Vietnam War? (Dulles Speech) Editor s note: In the spring of 1954, as the French defeat in Indochina became more certain, leading government officials such as Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Vice-President Richard Nixon campaigned for the United States to take France s place. In a speech that Secretary of State Dulles made, he argued that to save the free world from the spread of Communism, US intervention might be necessary, especially because, in the words of Vice-President, the Vietnamese lack the ability to conduct a war by themselves or govern themselves. Under the conditions of today, the imposition on Southeast Asia of the political system of Communist Russia and its Chinese Communist ally, by whatever means, must be a grave threat to the whole free community. The United States feels that that possibility should not be passively accepted but should be met by united action. This might involve serious risks. But these risks are far less than those that will face us a few years from now if we dare not be resolute today John Foster Dulles Speaking at a Podium, Walter K. Leffler, Photographer, April 8, 1958. Source: Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2011660831/ Source: John Foster Dulles, "Opposition to the Spread of Communism By Whatever Means" Speech to the Overseas Press Club, New York, March 29, 1954, in Department of State Bulletin, April 12, 1954, p. 539, in Marvin E. Gettleman et al. (eds.), Vietnam and America (New York: Grove Press), 1995, p. 51-52. Page 18
CWA 4.3.3 - Why fight the Vietnam War? (Eisenhower Interview) Editor s note: This question and answer exchange is from Robert Richards of Copley Press asking President Eisenhower a question during the press conference on April 7, 1954. The president commented frankly about the significance of Indochina, the colonial name of Vietnam. Q: Robert Richards, Copley Press: Mr. President, would you mind commenting on the strategic importance of Indochina to the free world? I think there has been, across the country, some lack of understanding on just what it means to us. A: The President: You have, of course, both the specific and the general when you talk about such things. First of all, you have the specific value of a locality in its production of materials that the world needs. Then you have the possibility that many human beings pass under a dictatorship that is inimical to the free world. Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences. Dwight D. Eisenhower, half-length portrait, facing slightly right, holding glasses / photograph by the New York Times, New York, U.S.A., ca 1954. Source: Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/91482942/ Source: President Eisenhower's News Conference, April 7, 1954, Public Papers of the Presidents, 1954, p. 382 The Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Vol. 1 (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), p. 597-8 https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/ps11.htm Page 19
CWA 4.3.4 - Why fight the Vietnam War? (Diem s Letter) Editor s Note: The 1954 Geneva Accords, the peace treaty ending French colonialism in Southeast Asia, divided Vietnam between North and South. Reunification would depend on the outcome of a presidential election to be held in 1956. However, realizing Ho Chi Minh s popularity, the United States and President Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader of South Vietnam, refused to hold the elections. In this letter addressed to President John F. Kennedy, President Diem thanks and seeks additional support from the United States. December 7, 1961 Dear Mr. President, Since its birth, more than six years ago, the Republic of Vietnam has enjoyed the close friendship and cooperation of the United States of America Resident DIEM Small Poster, 11/25/1954. Source: National Archives, ARC Identifier 6949135.For more than 2,000 years my people have lived and built, fought and died in this land. We have not always been free. Indeed, much of our history and many of its proudest moments have risen from conquest by foreign powers and our struggle against great odds to regain or defend our precious independence. But it is not only our freedom which is at stake today, it is our national identity. For, if we lose this war, our people will be swallowed by the Communist bloc, all our proud heritage will be blotted out by the Socialist society and Vietnam will leave the pages of history. We will lose our national soul. Source: Marvin E.Gettleman, Jane Franklin, Marilyn Young, and H. Bruce Franklin, eds., Vietnam and America: The Most Comprehensive Documented History of the Vietnam War (New York: Grove Press, 1995), 162. Page 20